Puzder Withdraws From Labor Secretary Consideration, Arrest in Killing of Kim Jong Un's Half-Brother, Winston Churchill on Aliens: P.M. Links

• 

  Library of Congress

  Defense Secretary James Mattis told NATO members they need to increase their contributions or the U.S. would moderate its commitments. President Trump called on Israel to "hold back" on settlements in the West Bank at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Andy Puzder has withdrawn from consideration as labor secretary nominee. The White House has been posting the wrong versions of Trump's executive orders.

• Homes near the Oroville Dam in California are being burglarized after the area was evacuated.
• Authorities in Malaysia have arrested a woman in connection with the killing of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's dictator.
• The government of Burundi will not attend peace talks with the opposition scheduled in Tanzania.
• What did Winston Churchill think about aliens?
• Comic-Con is headed to Saudi Arabia.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

I say we boycott all Trump articles until Reason fixes commenting. WHO'S WITH ME?

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[DEG]

Hello

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Hell-O

[Wasteland Wanderer]

Hello

[jack sprat]

I wanted to say something but the website wouldn't let me.

[Cyto]

You want to know why there has been no "libertarian moment"? Because the stupid server squirrels ate my damn post!

Every time I formulate a brilliant and piercing argument that would turn even the most ardent opponent of freedom into a dues-paying Libertarian Party member, the dang server squirrels eat my post. And then I'm too frustrated to recreate it, so the world just loses out on my brilliant oration... and more importantly remains morose and ignorant of the world that could be, were they only to embrace freedom - not just for themselves, but for others as well.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I think most people are boycotting commenting until Reason fixes the Trump articles.

[Fist of Etiquette]

SPLITTERS, YOU MEAN.

[mr simple]

Stupid People's Front of Hit y Run Commentariat.

[BestUsedCarSales]

The SPF HRC?

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

I think most people are boycotting commenting until Reason fixes the Trump articles.

[MarkLastname]

You can say that again.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Homes near the Orville Dam in California are being burglarized after the area was evacuated.

The risk of drowning isn't a good home security system?

[Unicorn Abattoir]

Balance that out with all evidence being washed away if the dam fails.

[Bubba Jones]

If the damn fails, are they really guilty of theft?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

It's the Mer-Men. And i don't mean the surf rock band.

[Fist of Etiquette]

What did Winston Churchill think about aliens?

Whatever it was, it better have been quotable.

[Jerry on the sea]

I'm in love with an alien
I'm in love with her eyes
I'm in love with an alien
I'm telling you no disguise

[ScoobaSteve]

Second verse, same as the first

[Episteme]

Churchill defined life as the ability to "breed and multiply"

Appropriate quote from the BBC story...

[Jerry on the sea]

I'm in love with an alien
I'm in love with her eyes
I'm in love with an alien
I'm telling you no disguise

[Chipper Morning Wood]

He thought it was OK to use mustard gas on them.

[waffles]

Behold the new symbol of fascism in America and despair!

[waffles]

Warning: disgusting hate images inside.

The reactionary left is aiding and abetting trolls of all kinds. If I didn't find it hilarious I would be starting to get worried that things could get out of hand.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

I didn't understand any of that.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I don't understand Crusty's lack of understanding.

[XenoZooValentine]

I don't understand how anybody could not understand Crusty's lack of understanding.

Also, "understand" doesn't look like a word anymore.

[waffles]

To be fair, neither do I. I think some people decided a purple pigeon facebook sticker was funny and are using it to troll. The nazi mashups are just 4chan fodder where people fantasize about being real fascists. I find it amusing and recognize that it's a huge waste of time.

[jesse.in.mb]

libpurple hardest hit

[Jibby2]

From what I've gathered... the purple bird is some sort of Facebook sticker artwork that's gotten very popular of late as the "meme du jour" with the kids these days. It's basically a meaningless thing people are doing en masse (think, dabbing or planking).

Some internet troll types (and possibly some actual white supremecist types) have decided to troll leftists by re-purposing the purple bird as a "neo-nazi" symbol and liberally post it in various leftist discussion threads. They are further helped by the fact that it is a popular meme in it's own right... it seems they want to illustrate the ignorant nature of the leftists labeling whatever they please as hate speech.

[Domestic Dissident]

"He will die in jail": a former National Security Agency analyst says the U.S. intelligence community is preparing to "go nuclear" with President Donald Trump.

[Homple]

I, for one, welcome our new spook agency overlords.

[robc]

Is the IC trying to make me like Trump?

[Bubba Jones]

Yeah. This makes me want to stick everyone with a security clearance in a black site.

[Ted S.]

Not first.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

The meek shall inherit the earth, Ted. Let us embrace not-firstness as a virtue.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Burundi?

Is that right next to Zamunda?

[Ska]

I rather enjoy the bathing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Comic-Con is headed to Saudi Arabia.

Just not Northstar. Or any of the female characters who don't wear masks.

[The Last American Hero]

Remember how that Ted Talk guy used comics and new Muslim superheroes to bring Islamic countries out of the 7th century? Yep, nobody else does either.

[DesigNate]

Cosplayers hardest hit.

[Playa Manhattan.]

http://www.glibertarians.com

Where the commenting works.

[DEG]

Yes, yes it does.

[????? ????]

This has to be a dick pic honeypot, somehow.

[Playa Manhattan.]

There are only dick pics if you want them. You want them, right?

*unzips*

[????? ????]

What about Charlyne Yi pics? Can you furnish those?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sans any honey.

[jesse.in.mb]

This has to be a dick pic honeypot, somehow.

If only.

[grrizzly]

At least my pic there looks exactly how I see myself.

[jack sprat]

interesting.

[waffles]

Oh snap, hat tips work too!?

[Not a True MJG]

And the threading is outta control.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Fixed, my son.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Can anyone post or is Tonio the Supreme Overlord?

[DOOMco's Ref Chipper]

inside promotion. seems pretty open.

[jesse.in.mb]

Depends on what you mean by "post" comments are moderated for spam and egregiously bad behavior such as doxxing or explicitly stating that a lawyer has carnal relations with one or more even-toed ungulates.

Posting content requires vetting by a star-chamber of misanthropic assholes.

[Not a True MJG]

I'm looking at a Mulatto comment detailing the only hope for libertarianism to advance, with room for about 34 characters per line.

Otherwise, slick-lookin' place.

[Hyperion]

This doesn't have anything to do with what Tonio was talking about a week or so ago, does it?

[DOOMco's Ref Chipper]

yes.

[Hyperion]

I see. Now I am now truly frightened for future of humanity.

[DOOMco's Ref Chipper]

oh it's not all bad.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"Do you need more Reason commenters in your life? You're in luck!"

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"Do you love Reason comments, but are overwhelmed by the way one guy writes? Well, here is the place for you!"

[Not a True MJG]

I am running low on exhaustive commentaries about how leftism is the scourge of civilization and progressives are dangerous scum.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"Are you missing that fun, organic mix of Reason comments that you remember from your youth, and will do anything to get it back. Now you can!"

[OneOut]

Number 7 will astound you !!1!1!!!

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"Do you want more Eddie in your life? You do, don't you? Why wouldn't you?"

"Glibertarians: We have Eddie."

[jesse.in.mb]

"Glibertarians: We have Eddie."

Brutal.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

"Are you worried your libertarian values will slowly deteriorate while reading current events from the distilled perspective of these people? Stop worrying! Read about current events from the distilled perspective of those people."

[Hihndication]

They make a cream for that.

[Bacon-Magic <3 Hayek]

Yes, unless you're firewalled at work. *hangs head in shame

[OneOut]

You are firewalled from glibertarians.com but not reason.com ?

brutal

[robc]

I sloopy back in CA or did he just choose to go with his best name?

Also, I shall always read that as Sloopy Inca.

[Not a True MJG]

I don't think I realized it meant California until he changed it to a different state. (there was something between CA and TX, wasn't there?)

[Playa Manhattan.]

VA

[Not a True MJG]

VA VOOM

[Playa Manhattan.]

Yeah, I though he was just into Peruvians.

[Cdr Lytton]

Or Sloppy Inca.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

The White House has been posting the wrong versions of Trump's executive orders.

#MAGA!

[Chipper Morning Wood]

[vigorously tries to extinguish SIV signal]

[waffles]

I still can't believe his single issue was cockfighting. Can't he just play pokemon instead?

[jesse.in.mb]

Why do you hate freedom?

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Not that kind of cock fighting, Jesse.

[jesse.in.mb]

Killjoy.

[TheZeitgeist]

The government of Burundi will not attend peace talks with the opposition scheduled in Tanzania.

The global order totters.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Defense Secretary James Mattis told NATO members they need to increase their contributions or the U.S. would moderate its commitments.

YOU GOT MONEY TO GUARANTEE MONTH-LONG VACAYS THEN YOU GOT MONEY FOR DEFENSE.

[Rich]

What did Winston Churchill think about aliens?

"Oh, *that* kind of aliens."

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Top Hat Men.

[Bubba Jones]

Newsweek illustrated that story with Churchill holding a tommy gun. Woot.

[Fist of Etiquette]

President Trump called on Israel to "hold back" on settlements in the West Bank at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

BREAKING: Trump Administration Retards Housing Starts

[Brochettaward]

The Trump Administration is going to begin housing retards?

[Hyperion]

Does this mean that Tony can finally move out of his mom's basement?

[T?ny]

Why should I? I rather like it down here. It smells like desperation and Aqua Velva.

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Prosecutor: Dozens of child sex assault cases were 'ignored'

Assistant prosecutors in Cleveland "ignored" about 70 rape and sexual assault cases involving juvenile suspects and victims and failed to determine if criminal charges should be filed, the new Cuyahoga County prosecutor said Tuesday.

Prosecutor Michael O'Malley said additional sexual assault complaints involving juveniles are expected to be found in the coming weeks as his office continues reviewing more than 1,900 cases marked inactive in a computer system used by prosecutors.

"There was a conscious decision (by prosecutors) to make some of these cases inactive," O'Malley said. "It's outrageous."

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Some of the victims in the 70 cases were as young as 3 years old. And some of the cases, which date back three years, would have been easy to prosecute because suspects confessed, O'Malley said.

Three assistant county prosecutors have been forced to resign and four others have been disciplined. O'Malley said he plans to refer prosecutors' names to the Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel.

It's not clear why prosecutors failed to act on the cases or to enter them into the office's case-management system. O'Malley said he finds it "hard to believe" that his predecessor, Tim McGinty, would have allowed prosecutors to ignore cases. O'Malley defeated McGinty in last year's Democratic primary and was elected by a wide margin in November.

Not the disciplinary counsel!!!

[paranoid android]

Mike O'Malley?

Will the misbehaving prosecutors be forced to climb the AGGRO CRAG as penance?

[That's A Bingo!]

Comic-Con is headed to Saudi Arabia.

I'm guessing the cosplay won't be as revealing.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Marvel can finally unveil their new life easier of superheroes, such as:

Sharyan: when Wahabi cleric falls in love with a female Nazi spy, neither suspects the latent superpowers the mixing of their genes will awaken.

Burquantum: After accidently walking into a beam of positrons near CERN while running away from her abusive husband, a simple woman discovers she can be at two places at once.

Martyrant: When a suicide bomber gets hit by truck carrying experimental genetic chickens as he is about to explode, a new supervillain is born.

[DEG]

For anyone interested, especially those who are considering stepping away from the Reason comments, whether temporarily or permanently, I co-admin a private email group strictly for the Reason commentariat. We've currently got about 40 members. It's Tulpa-free (with verification) and anonymous (unless you wish to voluntarily self-identify). For an invitation, email me at dgroves140 AT gmail DOT com with your handle, and we'll get you verified and added to the group.

We'll post this on the AM and PM links every day this week to give everyone a chance to see it.

If you wrote this morning and haven't heard from me, that's because I've been a bit busy with work. The other admin handles the evening shift but can't today.

[Eternal Blue Sky]

"If you wrote this morning and haven't heard from me, that's because I've been a bit busy with work. The other admin handles the evening shift but can't today."

Ah, so you're going for that "authentic Reason lateness" effect to make everyone feel at home.

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

*ponders whose grass is greener*

[Hyperion]

Is that you, NSA?

[DEG]

No. Sorry to disappoint.

[waffles]

So, not glibertarians? Splitter!

[DEG]

I'm weird. I'm on glibertarians as well.

[Bacon-Magic <3 Hayek]

Me too, just haven't posted there yet.

[mr simple]

I thought we were supposed to be on steam. I'm so confused by all of this.

[DOOMco's Ref Chipper]

If you wanna PC game like the pros.

[Chip Your Pets]

Free Markets, Filtered Minds.

What could go wrong.

[Chip Your Pets]

How do we know you're not Tulpa?

[MarkLastname]

He *is* Tulpa, that's how he knows you're not Tulpa.

[Square = Circle]

Okay - I thought it was a typo yesterday, but if this is going to keep being in the news:

IT'S OROVILLE,, PEOPLE!

I.e. "gold-town"

[Playa Manhattan.]

No, it's named after the popcorn.

[Mazakon]

Trump will not fill out an NCAA tournament bracket

Every March for eight years, Barack Obama filled out a "presidential bracket" on ESPN. It had the feel of the beginning of a tradition. President Donald Trump, however, has ended the tradition before it could get going.

Trump declined the opportunity to fill out a bracket on ESPN, despite the network offering him the chance to do so. The Washington Post was the first to report the news Wednesday. According to an ESPN spokesman, "We expressed our interest to the White House in continuing the presidential bracket. They have respectfully declined."

[Chipwooder]

thank god he's doing one thing right. I fucking hated Obama injecting himself into the pure joy that is the NCAA tournament.

[MarkLastname]

That son of a bitch is ruining all our traditions and trashing Obama's legacy already!

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Nude livestream on office Instagram account gets boss fired

A northwest Louisiana tourism director has lost her job after accidentally sending nude live video of herself to a tourism account instead of her husband.

News outlets report that the Webster Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau voted 3-2 to fire executive director Lynn Dorsey.

She'd been on paid leave since sending the video to the bureau's Instagram account in December. She said then that she meant it for her husband.

This is a picture of her, and damnit someone better find me that video!

[EdWuncler]

I would........

not hit that.

[Playa Manhattan.]

Never say never.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

So, not a Nazi or a libertarian?

[Ted S.]

So will that bring more or less tourism to NW Louisiana?

[DOOMco's Ref Chipper]

more, right?

[We are all Sloopy's mom (RBS)]

More bush pilots, probably.

[Bobarian (Would Chip Her)]

the Webster Parish Convention and Visitors Bureau voted 3-2 to fire executive director Lynn Dorsey and rehire her as entertainment director?

[Hyperion]

Well, I see she missed the 10 second pause and review before hitting send rule.

[__Warren__]

So that's what a seal would look like in a wig....

[Crusty Juggler - #2]

Citizens United lawyer targets Texas campaign finance laws

A case involving political "dark money" and the founder of an organization tied to President Donald Trump's accusations of voter fraud could lead to a crush of anonymous cash infiltrating elections in the country's second-largest state, a Democratic lawyer warned the Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The nine Republican justices on Texas' highest civil court heard arguments involving the legality of the state's ban on corporate contributions, disclosure requirements for political action committees and the question of when a politically active nonprofit should have to disclose its donors like a traditional PAC. Some believe that the case ultimately could wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court and potentially reshape campaign finance regulations nationwide.

Houston tea party group King Street Patriots, started by Catherine Engelbrecht, has been the focus of a longstanding lawsuit by the Texas Democratic Party accusing the organization of violating state campaign finance laws by engaging in political behavior when it dispatched poll watchers on behalf of the Texas Republican Party during the 2010 election.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Well, we saw from the most recent Presidential election how much of a difference money makes in politics. Look at how badly Trump outspent Clinton. We need to stop that!

[EdWuncler]

I was in my senior seminar class and the Professor and some members of the class bemoaned the Supreme Court's CU decision. I usually don't say much in class but I did say that perhaps the reason why lobbyists are prevalent in politics is because the politicians are able to sell privileges. If we took their ability away to do that and lessen their power, campaign contributions wouldn't be as big as a problem.

Blank stares.......

[Jerryskids]

The sad thing is it only costs a measly billion or so to finance a hostile takeover of a multi-trillion dollar crime syndicate. Shouldn't there be people willing to spend tens of billions, at least?

[Zero Sum Game]

Wikileaks bringing out terrifying questions.

I can only ask: Are we a democracy, a republic, or an unaccountable, unelected deep-state bureaucracy now?

Wikileaks seems to have formulated an answer to that question already. 🙁

The link the the actual tweet.

[ant1sthenes]

I think it's more like the situation in GB before the American Revolution, in that the distant imperial capital has both a democraticish and a permanent side, with both being alienated from Americans (and vice versa), and with the permanent side seeming to grow at the expense of the democratic side. The various state governments are filled with people much more opposed to both imperial institutions, and the people lean that way, though not clearly universally.

[Hyperion]

"Andy Puzder has withdrawn from consideration as labor secretary nominee."

Damn shame, that.

[TheZenomeProject]

I'm sad but not surprised. Anybody that goes to Washington and espouses pro-libertarian ideas like being anti-min wage is not going to be popular with large swaths of both parties. This is why the more libertarian picks that Trump made were IMO always going to be the hardest to confirm.

[TheZenomeProject]

A cosmotarian idea might be to try to get Whole Foods CEO John Mackey to interview for Labor Sec. He might be the only libertarian that could get unanimous approval, since leftists by oath must love organic food and must pay ridiculous cash for it.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Libertarianism contains the right to be an organic food nut, why won't Socialists respect my food choices?

[Bubba Jones]

The dude had an illegal nanny and didn't pay taxes?

Should not be a surprise that he withdrew. Someone failed to do a background check.

[Libertarian]

"U.S. stocks closed at fresh highs Wednesday for a fifth-straight day as traders continued to bet on a pro-growth agenda under President Donald Trump."

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/15/us-markets.html

"Still, I guess people want an answer: If the question is when markets will recover, a first-pass answer is never."
(Paul Krugman, in the early morning hours of 11/9 when he realized that Trump had just won the presidency.

[Juice]

It's starting to look a bit like the dot com bubble. It's getting ridiculous.

[The Last American Hero]

Yes, but it was also silly to contend that the election of Trump was going to usher in Great Depression II, effective 6 hours after the votes were tallied.

[Juice]

Here's one explanation:

Don't know if it's even remotely true.

[lafe.long]

India Launches Record-Breaking 104 Satellites on Single Rocket

The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 10:58 p.m. EST (0358 GMT on Feb. 15) with three satellites from India and 101 smaller nano satellites (also called nanosats) from five other countries: the U.S., the Netherlands, Israel, Kazakhstan and Switzerland. This number crushes the previous record of 37 satellites sent into orbit aboard a single Russian Dnepr rocket in June 2014.

[BestUsedCarSales]

When the record gets crushed that hard, that soon it makes it seem more like a record no one cared to break rather than anything special.

[T?ny]

The White House has been posting the wrong versions of Trump's executive orders.

My speculation: there are lots of versions of documents going around the place, all with slightly different texts and provisions. It's a pressure test to flush out leakers and Obama loyalists still skulking about the place.

[T?ny]

This is exactly what Obama would have done. It's only fair that Trump do the same.

I apologize for being harsh and stupid lately. It's 2017 and I'll try to do better. I've converted my mom's basement from a fallout shelter into a safe space and have surrounded myself with colorful, happy toys. I'll also try to stop touching myself so much, as it's leaving me with low testosterone and very beta when I talk to people on the internet. Plus, my mom told me she'd stop buying Kleenex and lotion in bulk.

[Bubba Jones]

lol. Who did this?

[lafe.long]

Veteran US reporter Dan Rather raises Watergate spectre

Rather, who was for decades one of the best known and most trusted figures in US journalism, said in a Facebook post: "Watergate is the biggest political scandal of my lifetime, until maybe now."
He said Watergate, which brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon in 1974, had been a nine-out-of-10 on a scale of crisis for the US government, while "this Russia scandal is currently somewhere around a five or six".

[american socialist]

What is the russia scandal here?

[We are all Sloopy's mom (RBS)]

Wait, isn't this the US Government spying on a campaign?

[Jerry on the sea]

J. Edgar Hoover has a sad.

[Chipwooder]

It's not like Dan Rather has a track record of running stories based on frauds or anything like that. I instantly believe him!

[mr simple]

Nobody remembers that anymore. Plus it was about an R president, so it's ok.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, it certainly involves US executive branch personnel loyal to one team spying on (and probably committing crimes regarding) politicians from the other team to gain political advantage. But who is the Nixon? Brennan? Clapper? Obama? A scandal doesn't pop without a villain.

[lafe.long]

Immigrant protected under Obama's 'Dreamer' program is detained

US immigration officials have detained a 23-year-old man from Washington state, who was authorized to remain in the country under a program established by the Obama administration.

The man, Daniel Ramirez Medina, has twice been granted deferred action and employment authorization under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, his lawyers said. The program, announced in 2012, is meant to temporarily shield qualified individuals from deportation.

[GILMORE?]

Was that first bullet-point supposed to be .....3 different ones? Its not an ed piece unless one paragraph is mangled.

[Juvenile Bluster]

Florida voted 71% in favor of medical marijuana in November. Unsurprisingly, the state legislature is trying to derp it up

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

The sad thing is FL's constitution actually has a right to privacy in it, no penumbras or anything. State legislators piss on it every session, right after the invocation asking for gawd's guidance.

[mr simple]

"I'm a professional liar. Believe me when I say don't trust Milo."

I don't know the whole story about Milo Y or his message or whether or not it's good, so I'm not trying to support him, but come on.

[The Fusionist]

I doubt Milo was behind the vandalism, assaults and arson at his own event, but of course he's going to take advantage of it. Who wouldn't?

[mr simple]

Exactly. This guy acts like he invented the idea that there's no such thing a bad publicity and was the first and only to take advantage of it.

[GILMORE?]

The government of Burundi will not attend peace talks with the opposition scheduled in Tanzania.

....

....

Was there a war? ... I know its, like, Africa. somewhere. Were were supposed to be following that? I hope there's not going to be a quiz.

[__Warren__]

It was Aaron Burrundi vs. the City of Hamilton.

[GILMORE?]

Comic-Con is headed to Saudi Arabia.

The japanese teen-girl cosplay this year is expected to be underwhelming

[GILMORE?]

Winston Churchill on Pashtuns

The inhabitants of these wild but wealthy valleys are of many tribes, but of similar character and condition. The abundant crops which a warm sun and copious rains raise from a fertile soil, support a numerous population in a state of warlike leisure. Except at the times of sowing and of harvest, a continual state of feud and strife prevails throughout the land. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight with those of the next. To the quarrels of communities are added the combats of individuals. Khan assails khan, each supported by his retainers. Every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbor. Every man's hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.

Nor are these struggles conducted with the weapons which usually belong to the races of such development. To the ferocity of the Zulu are added the craft of the Redskin and the marksmanship of the Boer. The world is presented with that grim spectacle, "the strength of civilisation without its mercy." At a thousand yards the traveller falls wounded by the well-aimed bullet of a breech-loading rifle. His assailant, approaching, hacks him to death with the ferocity of a South-Sea Islander. The weapons of the nineteenth century are in the hands of the savages of the Stone Age.

[GILMORE?]

Every influence, every motive, that provokes the spirit of murder among men, impels these mountaineers to deeds of treachery and violence. The strong aboriginal propensity to kill, inherit in all human beings, has in these valleys been preserved in unexampled strength and vigour. That religion, which above all others was founded and propagated by the sword?the tenets and principles of which are instinct with incentives to slaughter and which in three continents has produced fighting breeds of men?stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism....

... This state of continual tumult has produced a habit of mind which recks little of injuries, holds life cheap and embarks on war with careless levity, ...a people who fight without passion, and kill one another without loss of temper. Such a disposition, combined with an absolute lack of reverence for all forms of law and authority, and a complete assurance of equality, is the cause of their frequent quarrels with the British power. A trifle rouses their animosity. They make a sudden attack on some frontier post. They are repulsed. From their point of view the incident is closed. There has been a fair fight in which they have had the worst fortune. What puzzles them is that [the foreigner] should regard so small an affair in a serious light. They are surprised and aggrieved that the Government are not content with the victory, but must needs invade their territories, and impose punishment.

[GILMORE?]

I was reading this in the early days of the US war in Afghanistan, and still today think its a remarkably accurate depiction of why the US efforts there (as were everyone's) were hopeless.

oh, the source - 'The Story of the Malakand Field Force (1874)'

[EdWuncler]

I had a former coworker who fought over in Afghanistan tell me that us winning over is not impossible. One of the most interesting things he said was that how can you beat an enemy that has no regard for his own and other's lives?

[GILMORE?]

I had a former coworker who fought over in Afghanistan tell me that us winning over is not impossible.

i'm assuming you(they) mean, "winning is impossible"? or "not impossible"? can't tell

I think the problem is that the US never knew what 'winning' was supposed to mean.

Winning from the Pathan /Pashtun POV has always been the same = expel the foreigner. No concern for cost, time, numbers killed, or methods. Just keep fighting until they're gone.

Whereas what 'winning' means for the US is an amorphous idea; "stability". But that's the one thing that region has never had;

its own form of stability, as churchill put it=

a continual state of feud and strife prevails throughout the land. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight with those of the next. To the quarrels of communities are added the combats of individuals. Khan assails khan, each supported by his retainers. Every tribesman has a blood feud with his neighbor. Every man's hand is against the other, and all against the stranger.

That's *normal*. Trying to stop what they've been doing for 1000 years is hopeless.

[robc]

http://cafehayek.com/2017/02/42244.html

Don Boudreaux's most recent letter to the WSJ.

[Libertarian]

That man is a national treasure.

[The Last American Hero]

The part he missed is that claims of currency manipulation allow a government to blame his country's problems on those damn foreigners. That is why it persists.

[Zunalter]

Puzder's high-profile divorce including past abuse allegations from his ex-wife; revelations that his family had hired an undocumented immigrant as their housekeeper; and his business background all have cast a harsh spotlight on the executive.

The abuse allegations sound like jockeying for a better alimony payout, but, FFS, his business background is a ding for this position??? Some pencil-necked lifetime bureaucrat has a better handle on the realities of the labor market than the CEO of ~22K people?

Give me a fucking break.

[TheZenomeProject]

The abuse allegations sound like jockeying for a better alimony payout

That's near-verbatim what his ex-wife basically admitted, and she blamed it on "bad lawyer advice". It's more absurd "SEXIST!" virtue-signaling from right-thinking people to hide the real problem that these folks had with him: that he was a political outsider with (in their world) utterly radical ideas.

[MarkLastname]

Democrats, upset about Trump's anti immigrant rhetoric, are horrified that Puzder, an avowed supporter of less restrictive immigration, employed and illegal immigrant.

I'm sure they'll just tear those xenophobic Dems a new asshole on the Daily show for this.

[Episteme]

The White House has been posting the wrong versions of Trump's executive orders.

That makes them collectors' editions!

[buybuydandavis]

Homes near the Oroville Dam in California are being burglarized after the area was evacuated.

Shoot looters.

[Bubba Jones]

They aren't looters. They are salvagers.

[mayduavongts]

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